It is useful in your research to know when there were wars or military campaigns, as you may find a new place to search for information that you had not previously considered.

• 1689-1697 King William’s War-  French and Indian attacks on New England colonies bordering Canada.
• 1702-1713 Queen Anne’s War- A dispute between England, France and Spain against English forces in North America.
• 1744-1748 King George’s War- Fighting broke out between the French and British colonists as part of a European conflict called the War of the Austrian Succession.
• 1754-1763-   French and Indian War- Ended French and British disputes over North America territory.
• 1775-1786-   Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775 to April11,1783.
• 1782-1787-   Pennamite-Yankee war- Fought between the colonists of Connecticut and Pennsylvania for possession of the Wyoming Valley.  This period also included man Indian disturbances.
• 1790-1795-   Warfare with Northwest Indians, Miamis, Wyandots, Delawares, Pottawattamies, Shawnees, Ottawas and Chippewas.
• 1791-1794-   Whiskey Rebellion, Pennsylvania.  A whiskey tax imposed on the farmers of western Pennsylvania who made rye whiskey was the spark that fired the rebellion.
• 1798-1800-   War with France, July 1798 to September 30,1800.
• 1799-1808 Fries Insurrection in Pennsylvania 1799; Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 1806; Sabine Expedition, Louisiana, 1806;  Navies in Chesapeake Bay, 1807;  Embargo at Lake Champlain, NY, 1808.
• 1811-1813 War with Northwest Indians, November 1811 to October,1813.
• 1812-1813- Florida or Seminole War, August 15, 1812, to October 1812.  Peoria Indian War in Illinois Septem ber 19 to October 21, 1813
• 1813-1814-      Creek Indian War in Alabama, July 27, 1713 to August 9, 1814.
• 1817-1818 Seminole or Florida War, November 20, 1817 to October 31, 1818.
• 1819-1827-    Yellowstone Expedition, July 4, 1819 to September 1819, Blackfeet, Arickaree Indian Campaign, Upper Missouri River, 1823, Winnebage Expedition, Wisconsin, September 6 1827.
• 1831-1832-    Sac, Fox Indian clashes, Illinois; Black Hawk War, April 26, 1831 to September 21, 1832.
• 1833-1839-    Cherokee removal.
• 1834-1836-    Pawnee Expedition, Indian Territory, june 9, 1834; Toledo War, Ohio and Michigan boundary dispute, 1835-1836.
• 1836-1834 –    Creek Indian disturbances in Alabama, May 5, 1836 to September 30, 1837.
• 1837-1838-    Osage Indian troubles, Missouri; Heatherly Indian troubles in Missouri and Iowa; Mormon problems in Missouri.
• 1846-1847-    Doniphan’s Expedition from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Chihuahua, Mexico.
• 1846-1848-    Mexican War, April 24, 1846 to May 30 1848; New Mexico Expedition, June 30, 1846- February 13, 1848; Cayuse war, Oregon Volunteers, 1848.
• 1849-1861-    Navajo troubles, New Mexico; continuous disturbances with Comanche, Cheyenne, Lipan and Kickapoo Indians in Texas.
• 1850-1853-    Pitt River Expedition, April 28, 1850 to September 13, 1850; Utah Indian disturbance, 1851-1853; Yuma Expedition, California, December 1851 to April 1852.
• 1851-1856-    Indian Wars in Oregon and Washington, 1851-1856, Snake Indians, Oregon, May 24 1855 to September 8, 1855, Sioux Indian Expedition ,  Nebraska Territory, April 1855 to July 27, 1856; Cheyenne and Arapaho troubles, 1855-1856.
• 1855-1858- Seminole or Florida War, December 20 1855 to May 1858. Kansas border problems, 1856-1858.
• 1857-1895 Western states Indian uprisings, disputes, expeditions and campaigns.
• 1859-                John Brown’s Raid, Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, November and December 1859.
• 1861-1866-   Civil  War between the States, April 19, 1861 to May 1865.
• 1898-1899-    Spanish American War, April 21, 1898 to April 11 1899. (Actual combat did not cease until August 13, 1899).
• 1899-1902-    Philippine Insurrection, Philippine islands, February 4, 1899 to July 4, 1902.
• 1900-1901-    Boxer Rebellion in China, May 1900- to May 1901.
• 1914-1918-     World War I
• 1939-1945-     World  War II
• 1950-1953-    Korean War
• 1965-1973-    Viet Nam Conflict (Began in 1957, US involvement 1965).

The 1940 Federal Census, number 16 for the United States will be available 1 April 2012.  The header includes fields for the usual State, County, Incorporated places, Township , Wards of some cities, block numbers, unincorporated places, institution, Supervisor District Number, Enumeration District Number, Date of actual enumeration, Name of Enumerator and Sheet number.

I wish it was today!  I know many people are excited expecting to learn new things about their many   relatives.  I am interesting in what questions were asked, so I got the information for this article.

1. LOCATION: Street, avenue, road, etc.
2. LOCATION: House number (in cities and towns)
3. HOUSEHOLD DATA: Number of household in order of visitation
4. HOUSEHOLD DATA: Home owned (O) or rented (R)
5. HOUSEHOLD DATA: Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented
6. HOUSEHOLD DATA: Does this household live on a farm? (Yes or No)
7. NAME: Name of each person whose usual place of residence on April 1, 1940, was in this household.
8. RELATION: Relationship of this person to the head of the household, as wife, daughter, father, mother-in-law, grandson, lodger, lodger’s wife, servant, hired hand, etc.
9. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION: Sex — Male (M), Female (F)
10. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION: Color or race
11. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION: Age at last birthday
12. PERSONAL DESCRIPTION: Marital status — Single (S), Married (M), Widowed (Wd), Divorced (D)
13. EDUCATION: Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940 (Yes or No)
14. EDUCATION: Highest grade of school completed
15. PLACE OF BIRTH: If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession. If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937. Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland.
16. CITIZENSHIP: Citizenship of the foreign born
17. RESIDENCE APRIL 1, 1935: City, town, or village having 2,500 or more inhabitants. Enter “R” for all other places
18. RESIDENCE APRIL 1, 1935: County
19. RESIDENCE APRIL 1, 1935: State (or Territory or foreign country
20. RESIDENCE APRIL 1, 1935: On a farm? (Yes or No)
21. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Govt. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No)
22. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No)
23. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Was this person SEEKING WORK? (Yes or No)
24. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No)
25. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Indicate whether engaged in home housework (H) in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (O)
26. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940
27. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Duration of unemploymen up to March 30, 1940 – in weeks
28. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work
29. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Industry: Industry of business
30. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Class of worker
31. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks)
32. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: INCOME IN 1939: Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions)
33. PERSONS 14 YEARS OLD AND OVER — EMPLOYMENT STATUS: INCOME IN 1939: Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary? (Yes or No)
34. Number of Farm Schedule

    Each census sheet has 40 numbered lines (numbered along both the left and right edges of the form). There is a list of SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS, which would be asked of those individuals recorded usually on Lines 14 and 29 (although other lines were also designated for such use and was presumably to ensure a random sampling).
    The Supplementary Questions were as follows:

35. NAME
36. PLACE OF BIRTH OF FATHER AND MOTHER: FATHER
37. PLACE OF BIRTH OF FATHER AND MOTHER: MOTHER
38. MOTHER TONGUE (OR NATIVE LANGUAGE): Language spoken in home in earliest childhood
39. VETERANS: Is this person a veteran of the United States military forces; or the wife, widow, or under-18-year-old child of a veteran? If so, enter “Yes”
40. VETERANS: If child, is veteran-father dead (Yes or No)
41. VETERANS: War or military service
42. SOCIAL SECURITY: Does this person have a Federal Social Security Number? (Yes or No)
43. SOCIAL SECURITY: Were deductions for Federal Old-Age Insurance or Railroad Retirement made from this person’s wages or salary in 1939? (Yes or No)
44. SOCIAL SECURITY: If so, were deductions made from (1) all, (2) one-half or more, (3) part, but less than half, of wages or salary?
45. USUAL OCCUPATION
46. USUAL INDUSTRY
47. Usual class of worker
48. FOR ALL WOMEN WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN MARRIED: Has this woman been married more than once? (Yes or No)
49. FOR ALL WOMEN WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN MARRIED: Age at first marriage?
50. FOR ALL WOMEN WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN MARRIED: Number of children ever born (Do not include stillbirths)

I hope this sparks your anticipation for the future.

First, you start with yourself and immediate family.  The best thing to do is use a family tree form or group sheet which you can find free on the internet to write basic information, or copy and paste the one below.  Write your full name, birth date and place, marriage date and place. If you’re married you write the same information for your spouse and children.  Documentation for each event is necessary in research.  Write the surname in capital letters.  When writing dates you would write 30 October 2009, as an example.  Once you get started you may find this process is a bit addictive, as I did.

Obviously having only this information would be a bit boring one hundred years from now, so you want to add other pertinent events with dates, graduations, baptisms, including divorces, second marriages and pictures.  Medical information is also very important to future generations.  Try to leave a picture of your life for your relatives as if they were reading a good novel.

The next step is writing the same information for your parents, including death and place of death, when applicable.  List your siblings, including their children if applicable.  Using a family group sheet for each family is the easiest way to keep track of the families.  There are many types available but the necessary information is the same.  Then, you will want to use a pedigree file as the family group gets larger.  It is so important to list information accurately, especially if you want to join one of the many genealogy organizations where you must prove your heritage.

Note: If you are adopted some choose to list only the adoptive parents, others wish to list information from their birth parents.

You will want to talk to all your oldest living relatives.  Make a list and visit everyone if possible.  They will have stories and they will be able to answer many questions easily that would take a great deal of time in research.  Making a list of questions before your visits can be helpful.  They can tell you stories about those that have passed away and you may find there were some relatives you have never heard of before.

Review your information as you work starting again with you and moving up the line.  The research can get out of hand if you don’t keep things well organized.  I have a file for each family with copies of legal documents.  Some people have them in labeled brown envelopes.

There is much to be learned by joining your local genealogy society, even if you are not living in the place where you grew up.  The internet is absolutely growing by leaps and bounds with new genealogy information.  Ancestry.com is probably the best known but it does cost to join.  The Family History site of the Mormon Church is also a terrific place to do research.  You will become familiar with census from 1790-1930.  For a detailed article explaining each census see http://hubpages.com/hub/Genealogy-I-mportance-of-Federal-Census

There are several computer programs to store your information.  The best known are Family Tree, Legacy, and Roots Web.  They are all good programs and relatively inexpensive.  This keeps all information at your fingertips.

You have a big job ahead of you, so its time to get started!

It is important to keep accurate records.  The family tree sheet is used one per family.  Add all pertinent data including your sources.  They can be verbal sources from those still alive, but copies of documents are a better source if you can get them, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, etc.  It is worth the time you spend on each family as the more you trace back the more families you’ll have and it can become overwhelming. Try out this sheet by copy and paste.

Family Group Sheet:

The 1850 Federal Census had a weath of new information listed as compared to the previous years.

A logical place to start looking for family members is the United States Federal Census; there is a wealth of information to be found if you search your census records carefully. The great news is that census records are all over the internet, and there are several sites where you will find free census information just by putting the right word in Google search. There are also several good fee based sites, such as Ancestry.com. Your local library is another good source.

In 1787, the constitution, later ratified 21 June 1788, adopted the document that called for an enumeration to begin in 1790, and then every ten years thereafter. As a genealogist, I would like to think these census were created for my benefit, however, that is hardly the case. They track population growth in each state; they establish the head of household and list the family groups after the 1850 census. Census continues to expand each year, tracking place of birth, place of parent’s birth, unrelated people living in the household, occupations and quite often you will find other relatives in the same area.

In 1790, the first enumeration provided information for the first 13 states, listing head of household, gender, free white males above and below 16 years of age, number of women and number of slaves. Sometimes they are well preserved and legible and sometimes they are difficult to read. The name of the state, city or county is listed, as well as, the enumeration number.

In 1800, 5.3 million people represented a more than 35% growth in ten years. The ages were broken down into smaller categories, i.e. 0-10 years. The number of other free persons (except Indians who were not taxed), the number of slaves, the town, the district, and county of residence were all listed. The categories allowed Congress to determine the number of people residing in the United States for the purpose of taxation (no surprise there) and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives.

By 1810, 7.2 million people represented a 36.4% increase in population, the largest for any decade. Categories were essentially unchanged. In 1820, 9.6 million people represented a 33% growth. The only additions from the previous census were males from 16-18 years to be naturalized, number in agriculture, commercial or manufacture, and number of “colored” persons.

The 1830 census, showed another 33.5% population increase, to 12.9 million people. The age categories for men and women were broken down into 10 year segments. The name of a slave owner and the number of slaves owned by that person were listed, as well as, the number of free “colored” persons. Also, the number of foreigners (not naturalized) in a household and the number of deaf, dumb and blind persons were listed. The 1840 census was similar except they asked the number of Revolutionary War pensioners and the number of people engaged in mining, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing and trade, navigators of the ocean and canals, number in school and the number in the household over age 21 who could not read and write, plus the number of insane.

Finally in 1850, (now 23 million people) the Head of the Household, was followed by his spouse, their children and any others living in the house. Their age at the census date was listed, sex, color, birthplace, occupation of males over age 15, value of real estate, whether married within the previous year, whether deaf-mute, blind, insane or “idiotic” (not sure who would determine that one!), whether able to read and write for people over 21 years and it lists those attending school.  This census gives genealogists a lot more information.

The 1870 census, conducted at the conclusion of the Civil War now covers 37 states and new information but much of the census was lost or destroyed. The 1880 census represented another 30% growth during the previous decade. It was the first census to record the relationship between household members and the head of the house. Several territories were enumerated, plus our 38 states. Oklahoma was not enumerated for non-Indians. A large flux of immigrants were arriving, particularly Germans and the Irish. The 1890 census showed another 25% growth. Unfortunately most of this census was destroyed by fire.

1900 Census Form

1900 Census is a valuable asset as the 1890 census was destroyed and there was heavy immigration over those 20 years.